


The Sun Will Shine on Us Again

by BloodyAbattoir



Category: Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Loki Wins, Angry Odin (Marvel), Angst, Awesome Frigga (Marvel), Character Death, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Gen, Ghosts, Insanity, King Loki (Marvel), Loki (Marvel) Does What He Wants, Loki (Marvel) Has Issues, Loki (Marvel) Needs a Hug, Odin (Marvel)'s A+ Parenting, Substance Abuse, Valhalla, Verbal Abuse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-03
Updated: 2020-04-08
Packaged: 2020-04-10 05:22:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 1,821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19080397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BloodyAbattoir/pseuds/BloodyAbattoir
Summary: When Thor decides to make his ill-fated trip to Jotunheim, the Frost Giants do not take as kindly to him as they otherwise may have, resulting in the death of the crown prince. In a fit of rage, Odin forbids Loki from ever seeing Thor's ghost again, despite both himself and Frigga making frequent trips to the golden halls of Valhalla to converse with their beloved son.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Mastre](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mastre/gifts).



> This is multi-chapter, full of angst, and possibly fucks with the characterization of Loki more than just a little bit. This takes more of the characterization of Loki as defined by Tom Hiddleston and the writers of the first Thor Movie. Ragnarok who? Endgame? NEVER heard of the fuckers!

Despite his antagonistic actions against the Frost Giants, Thor did not expect them to retaliate with such brutality. After all, the Casket of Eternal Winters was safely locked away in Asgard, stashed away in a vault, overseen by the Destroyer. Jotunheim and Asgard had been at an uneasy truce for the past several centuries, and he had no reason to believe that the Jotuns, weakened as they were by the loss of their precious relic, would even consider such a series of actions. 

 

For all of his rashness, Thor was still wise enough to consider the larger repercussions of his actions, and death was nowhere on his listen of potential repercussions. As such, he never saw it coming, both literally and metaphorically. 

 

The icicle-sword pierces his back, shattering his armor apart like the delicate teacups that Mother sipped tea out of while reading in the library. His eyes are blown wide open in shock, surprise. He can't believe that there is a massive shard of ice protruding from his chest, covered in his own blood. He is quickly growing cold, much colder than he thought possible. His mouth opens and closes like a fish out of water, unable to form words, unable to scream, unable to gasp, unable to breathe. A look of sheer terror crosses his face. 

 

He is dying, and he knows it. 

 

Behind them, there is the massive sound of the Bifrost opening, Odin on his eight legged steed coming to the rescue, early enough to save Loki, Sif, the Warriors Three, and yet, too late for Thor, his beloved son, the real reason that he was here. 

 

The last thing that Thor hears is the wordless scream of anguish spilling from Odin's mouth before he crumples to the ground, noble heart stilling at last. 


	2. Chapter 2

Everything after that is a blur. Yelling, screaming, fighting. The clang of blades on frozen ice is deafening, matched only by the blinding power of the whipping wind, sending ice and snow everywhere. 

 

By the time it all settles down, the casualties have climbed from one, to well over two dozen. Thor is dead. So are Laufey and Volstagg. Assorted Frost Giants lay around, dead and dying. Hogunn is missing an arm, and doesn't look like he'll survive the trip back to Asgard. Sif has a massive stab wound to the abdomen. Loki takes stock of himself, and finds that one of his arms has gone entirely blue, but otherwise, seems unharmed. He tucks it under his cloak, out of sight, out of mind. 

 

The bifrost reopens. This time, it takes not only Odin, but also the members of that ill-fated journey back to Asgard, dead or alive. The sound that the dead bodies make as they hit the inside of Heimdallrs observation platform sickens Loki. He can feel the bile rising in his throat, overcome with guilt at his egging Thor on not even a few hours before. Perhaps, he thinks, if he had just said no, Thor would be alive now, laughing at their defeat, how Father was still after them like they were little boys again, not a heap of cooling meat, butchered like a boar. 

 

There are soldiers standing on the Bifrost, carts behind them to bring the dead and wounded back to the palace. They are loaded up in the blink of an eye, and the horses gallop off, hooves clattering against the rainbow bridge. Now, it is just Odin, Heimdallr, and Loki left in that little hut, Fandral having accompanied the carts back. Heimdallr remains in his observatory, his eyes searching somewhere the other two men cannot see, doubtlessly Jotunheim, the next move of a people already crippled, an ever weakening threat. 

 

Odin and Loki begin the slow walk back to the golden palace. Odin walks beside Sleipnir, reins in one hand. In this brief moment of his grief, Odin has deigned to lower himself to the same level as Loki, if only for now, a rare show of solidarity. Loki had braced himself for the yelling, the screaming, the threats and punishments that had always followed events like this. Truth be told, there have never been events like this. None so serious, none resulting in death. A hiccup in a peace treaty, sure, but it was always smoothed out without someone having to die. Loki isn't prepared for the sorrow, the silence. Instead of the fit that he had expected, Odin, weary of the world, and perhaps only a few steps away from Odinsleep, asks a single question. What happened?

 

Numb from shock and his own grief, Loki opens his mouth. Out spills word after word, telling the tale of the past several days. How Thor, after the grand ceremony where he was gifted with Mjolnir, decided that he ought to prove his worth, his strength. How he convinced the Warriors Three and Sif to go with him. How he saw nothing but following in Odin's bloody footsteps as a warmonger of his younger days. How Loki himself had egged him on, supported him in his ideas. How they snuck down to the Bifrost, telling no one of their plans. How things had gone from good to bad to worse, until Thor found himself dead, speared on the sword of a Jotun. 

 

They were the words of a boy, hoping that his father could step in, make everything right again, ease his pain. 


	3. Chapter 3

Whatever childish hopes Loki may have held onto are quickly shattered by the look on Odins face. Despite this, he cannot stop talking, cannot shut himself up even as he realizes that he was digging himself further and further into a hole. 

 

By the time he has finished, his conscious is lighter, but his heart is heavier, and they have arrived at the gates of the palace. Odin won't even look in his direction, dismissing him with a wave of a hand. 

 

Loki doesn't need to be told twice. He makes a beeline for his chambers, intent on crawling into bed, and ideally, never waking again. 


	4. Chapter 4

The next morning brings with it painful news. Despite the best efforts of the healers of Asgard, Sif succumbed to her injuries during the course of the night. Odin has gone into the Odinsleep, and there were whispers that they knew not if or when he would next awaken. 

 

Loki is consumed by guilt. He goes over that fateful day over and over in his head, replaying the events in minute detail, as if by torturing himself like this, he can find some way to turn back the hands of time, to change the events of that day. He would trade anything, give up  _anything_ for a chance at changing the events of the previous day. 

 

He takes to wandering the golden halls of the palace like a wraith. Rarely, if ever, does he encounter another living soul, but he cannot tell whether this is due to the paths he chooses, or if the inhabitants of the castle go out of their way to avoid him. The halls are too empty, too alien and cold without the other members of the castle to inhabit it. and his footsteps echo off the walls, too loud for his ears. He wonders why no one tells him to be quiet, why no one scolds him for disturbing the peace. 

 

Eventually, his feet takes him towards his parents chambers. So lost in his thoughts, he does not realize where he is until his hand is on the doorknob, pushing open the heavy door. It is only when his mother looks up at him, a sad smile gracing her lips, that he stops in his tracks.

 

For once, he does not know what to say. 


	5. Chapter 5

The funerals are held in quick succession, a mass departure of the souls bound for Valhalla. Frigga steps into the shoes of the incapacitated Odin, and as she fires the flaming arrow that sets Thor's funeral pyre alight, Loki suddenly feels tears welling up in his eyes. It was almost exactly what Thor had wanted, what he had always talked about, the glory of dying in battle, his soul residing in the golden halls of Valhalla for eternity, and yet, it was still the exact opposite of everything he had planned, if you considered Thor capable of planning anything. At minimum, he certainly didn't plan on dying so young. 

 

The surviving prince lets out a harsh laugh that he quickly disguises as a sob. No, he wasn't laughing at the funeral, not at such a somber event, but rather, at the irony of it all. Thor had been so obsessed with dying a hero, he brought the wrath of fate upon himself. Three boats afire quickly turn into three tiny candles as they float away to the edge of the waters surrounding Asgard. As they pitch over the edge of the world, a glowing orb shoots up from each one, on its way to the afterlife, souls freed from their fleshy prisons. 

 

Loki suddenly has a vivid image in his mind, a sudden urge to leap into the water after them, always a boy begging his older brother, wait for me! It wasn't like anyone would be stopping him. Quite frankly, if he were to act on it, he knew that not only would most of the Aesir freely allow him, but quite a few would gladly 'assist' him. It is only Frigga's arm wrapped around his shoulder that stops him. 

 

In that moment, he realizes that as much as he wanted to die, guilt overwhelming him, he couldn't. He must survive, if only for his mother. 


	6. Chapter 6

As bad as the days following their return from Jotunheim had been, the days following the funeral were even worse. Somehow, in the limbo between Thor's death and the funerary ceremony, Loki had managed to convince himself that Thor wasn't dead, he was merely sleeping in that vast, freezing chamber wherein the Asgard lay in repose.

 

Now, however, he could not simply sneak past the guards to pay his brother a visit, pop in whenever he wanted -  _needed -_ to see the other man, if only to put his tormented mind at ease for but a short burst of time. It finally sank in that Thor was dead, gone, and that he was never coming back. 

 

Two weeks after the funeral, Loki had established a schedule of sorts that rotated between moping in his own room, staring at one of the many murals of Thor and their family scattered around the palace, dodging other living entities, and conversing with his mother, who didn't seem to be taking this any better than her surviving son. Indeed, it was rare that Frigga ever left the bedchamber in which Odin resided, and rarer still that she would allow anyone to interact with her save for a trusted handful. 

 

Quietly, Loki wondered if he ever truly wished that his not-father would emerge from the Odinsleep.

 


End file.
